Many electronic devices, such as display panels, have an electrically-conductive layer composed of aluminum or an aluminum alloy (hereinafter referred to as “Al or the like.”). The following describes a structure of an organic electroluminescence (EL) panel as one example of an electronic device having an electrically-conductive layer composed of Al or the like, with reference to FIG. 16.
The conventional organic EL panel illustrated in FIG. 16G has thin film transistors (TFT) formed on a substrate 900 (In FIG. 16, only a drain electrode 901 and a barrier layer 902 among components of each TFT are illustrated). The drain electrodes 901 are composed of Al or the like, and the barrier layer 902 is composed of Al2O3 for example. The barrier layer 902 has an opening at a part thereof above each drain electrode 901. The barrier layer 902 prevents damage that may otherwise occur during a later-performed process of forming a planarizing layer 904.
The planarizing layer 904 is deposited on the barrier layer 902. The planarizing layer 904 has contact holes at positions corresponding to the openings of the barrier layer 902. On the planarizing layer 904, anodes 905 and a hole injection layer 906 are stacked in this order. One anode 905 is provided for each pixel, and an anode 905 for one pixel is separated from an anode 905 for another pixel. At a bottom portion of each contact hole, an anode 905 and a drain electrode 901 are electrically connected. In a top-emission-type organic EL panel, anodes 905 are composed of, for example, Al or the like, and have light-reflectivity.
On the hole injection layer 906, banks 907 defining openings each corresponding to one pixel are formed. The banks 907 are disposed to cover areas of the hole injection layer 906 located on the contact holes. In the openings defined by the banks 907, light-emitting layers 908 composed of an organic material are disposed.
The light-emitting layers 908 and the top surfaces of the banks 907 are covered by a cathode 909 that is continuous over the entire panel. The cathode 909 is covered by a sealing layer 910. The cathode 909 is formed, for example, by using indium tin oxide (ITO) or indium zinc oxide (IZO).
In the conventional organic EL panel illustrated in FIG. 16, each light-emitting layer 908 receives injection of holes supplied from one drain electrode 901 via an anode 905, and receives injection of electrons supplied from the cathode 909, and the amount of holes and electrons supplied to the organic light-emitting layers 908 is in accordance with pixel light-emission luminance. The holes and electrons recombine in the light-emitting layer 908, whereby the pixel including the light-emitting layer 908 emits light.